AfD ties CDU in latest German poll as far-right makes western gains
A new poll puts Germany’s far-right AfD neck and neck with Chancellor Merz’s Christian Democrats, signalling a broader shift as the party expands beyond its eastern strongholds and builds national momentum
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) continues to put pressure on Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats, with a widely watched poll released showing the two parties tied among voters at 26%.
The AfD have topped polls before after surging in popularity over the past year, but the latest edition of the public broadcaster ZDF’s Politbarometer poll underscores the party’s apparent staying power – and a threat to Merz from further to the right. His junior coalition partners, the once-mighty Social Democrats (SPD), stayed steady at 15% in the poll – once an unthinkably poor showing for the centre-left party.
The poll comes on the heels of last week’s election in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany’s most populous state. Merz’s Christian Democrats managed to hold onto power in the vote – but the AfD made deep inroads, nearly tripling its share of the vote.
The AfD was once seen as an eastern phenomenon, and remains strongest in the former communist East Germany. But the surge in the heavily industrialised western NRW – where the AfD jumped into third place with 14.5% of the vote – emphasised the party’s increasingly national base.
Merz doesn’t face national elections until 2029, but the AfD are eyeing a number of regional elections next year, including votes in two eastern states where the far right have been holding clear leads in the polls
